Lost clauses: finding one's way out of subordinate clauses in German

To the foreign speakers of German: do you ever get lost in German sentences? For example, if you are saying a sentence with subordinate clauses, splittable verbs, different tenses, etc., do you ever lose your place in the sentence?

I feel as if I get stuck in a sentence spiral and I'm trying to work myself free when I speak "Big Girl Sentences," which I consider anything other than a basic sentence. I seem to have two modes of speaking them. If I try to say the sentence at a normal speed, I tend to mess up the word order. If I stop, think, and say it correctly, I may as well hang up a Microsoft Windows hourglass in front of my face as I'm plotting the sentence in my head.

I suppose that I should be thankful that I have enough knowledge at this point to have the capacity (but not the speed) to form somewhat complex sentences. What has your experience been?

Buy and sell used bikes in Kaiserslautern on May 9!

Saturday, May 9, 2015
Bike Sale is 1100-1300
Sellers drop off bikes from 0930-1045
Located in the courtyard of St. Martin's Church

Spittelstraße 4

67655 Kaiserslautern

(courtyard is behind the church)
 Website with more information

The annual Terre des Hommes Fahrradmarkt (bike market) is coming up on May 9 in Kaiserslautern.  Individuals can drop off bikes and the organization undertakes the task of selling the bike, eliminating the need for the owner to stay all day. In exchange, the organization receives a percentage of the sale. Shoppers have the opportunity to shop among used bikes in one location. It's a winning situation for everyone!

Sellers and those who would like to take the bikes for a test ride must bring their IDs. There is a 2.50 euro fee to consign the bike and if it sells, the seller gives 10% of the selling price to the organization.

 

Moo is such a weirdo

I love having Moo the cat as a pet. He's friendly, soft, and sweet. However, he's also a bit of a weirdo.

He likes to smell my hand. Then he tries to shove my finger up his nose and trails his face on my finger so it somewhat catches on his lips. He ends up even wiping his teeth on my finger! None of this is aggressive in the least bit and it's not biting; he's gentle, but does get moisture from his nose and mouth on my hand and then I have to go wash it. Ew. I love animals but am not so into the slobber.

I have been reading about cats and learned that a lot of this is very friendly behavior. Cats have various scent glands around their bodies, including on the their cheeks. That's why they rub their faces on humans of choice; it's like saying, "lady, I own you so I'm going to mark you as mine with my scent. (Isn't that awesome?)"

On the other hand, it doesn't sound like Moo's behavior of trying to stick my finger up is his nose is normal cat behavior. I think that's where he failed in Cat School 101 and he might just be a bit dumb. I'm glad he thinks highly of me but I'd be cool if he just wiped his face on me instead.

Celebrating getting older in your birthday suit: free things to do in Kaiserslautern on your birthday

Last week, I spent part of my birthday in my birthday suit, and then part of it eating ice cream with friends. Both things were free and relaxing.

I found out that Monte Mare, the spa/swimming pool/sauna in Kaiserslautern, gives a free admission on a person's birthday. I showed my ID with my birthdate and was given an unlimited amount of time in the whole facility. Parts of the facility are family friendly, such as the area with a huge swimming pool, hot tub, and water slides. The other part, which is mostly the sauna area and some pools, is for adults only because it it is FKK/textil frei (in other words, no bathing attire is allowed). I went for a swim, sat in a sauna, and dozed in the cozy area for relaxing.

Following that, I met some friends for dinner at Papasote. I walked there and the three of them pulled up in unison, on their bikes. It was so cute! We enjoyed dinner and I received a free fried ice cream, a birthday gift from the restaurant.

All in all, it was a great day after work. I relaxed, spent some time with great people, and shared ice cream, for free.

My week: April 26 ed.

-Following last week's party, I did a little bit more celebrating of my birthday, meeting some friends for dinner.

-I had German class and met with my tandem partner. I really want to up the ante so I found some additional tandem partners. However, I went a different route: I wanted to practice via Skype. My schedule is already jam-packed as it is but I want to put my German learning into high drive since I want to practice speaking 4-7 times a week. I was able to find three new tandem partners who are keen to try conversation via Skype. I figure that I can cram in about 20 minutes of Skyping before I turn in for the night. The nice thing is that they're local so if we can find a time that works, we can meet in person too. Who knows? Maybe we will become friends, too. I'm always up for more friends :)

I found myself with a small amount of "extra" time this weekend so I met with A, one of the tandem speaking partners. I keep telling myself that I'll always ask the speaking partner if we can speak German first because it's too easy to start and continue in English. I found that to be the case with today's meeting; we started with an interesting conversation in English and I hated to break up the flow so 3/4 of the conversation continued in English. We did get some German in too though and it was quite productive.

The clerk at the cafe recognized me and said that my German continues to improve. It cracks me up that I'm a "regular" after only three visits. Or, maybe it's an anomaly that an American speaks an intermediate(ish) level of German that I stick out? ;-P  I have to admit that I don't run across many Americans who are B1 level or higher so maybe it is a bit of a rarity; shame on us! Then again, I (somewhat purposefully) don't run with a crowd with a high composition of Americans, either, so perhaps my sample size is not valid.

-Moo had a Friseurtermin. In other words, he received his annual shaving. Both of us are relieved that he's not so hairy any more. The same lady who shaved him last year did it again this year. She really likes Moo and her husband does too but this year, the husband wasn't able to come since he was too tired. He was quite disappointed. I think that the Moo Fan Club continues to grow and grow.

-I went to the Maimarkt in Mannheim with my friend C. More to follow about that. This is the third year I've attended and it's always a great time.

-Things are going to get really crazy for me next week. I'm starting a new German course and it will run concurrently with the existing one for the duration of a month. I'm already really pressed for time and there are some projects I have going on that need my attention. (It makes total sense to take on more tandem speaking experiences, or not, huh?) I also have plans to travel for work. Yay! It will be to conduct in-person training, which has such a nicer, personal touch than the cold, sterile, and buggy experience of teaching online. I expect to be insanely busy until September as a result of all of this. Perhaps it will keep me out of trouble.

A giggle about Dialekt

This video cracked me up. The poor Pfälzisch guy just wanted to order some flowers for his Mutti but the store clerk couldn't understand him because of his dialect. He mournfully exclaimed that he can't speak Hochdeutsch. With the help of a CD to change his dialect to Hochdeutsch, he was able go back and order the flowers.

I visited Thalia, a book store in town. It's part of a chain but it does have a lot of books and gifts of local interest, including a lot about the Pfalz region (where Kaiserslautern is located). I can somewhat understand what many of the things written in dialect say, but I'll be honest: I understand it only slightly more than what I can understand in written Dutch. I don't know Dutch at all; I can only read bits of it because of learning German, if that gives any indication.

But what do you *do* there?

This summer will yield an exciting event: some family members will be visiting me! I'm thrilled, especially since I haven't seen them for two and a half years. We only get to spend a few days together but I've already started planning what we'll do.

When I talked to them about what we might do, it was rather obvious that my outlook has changed in the time that I've lived here. I recommended that we attend a wine festival since it's a great way to experience the Pfalz region and see what this area is really like with a minimum of tourists.

My guests wanted to know what one does at a wine fest. I happily explained that one can sample the local wines and cuisines, followed by a walk through the vineyards and/or the town, depending on where the event is held. Sometimes there is music or other programs. Basically, one can soak up the Gemütlichkeit and some wine too while enjoying the company of her friends.

I thought it sounded like a great idea until one family member exclaimed, "but we'll be flying the next day! I don't want to have a hangover!"

What? Um, I've never drank enough at a wine festival that I had a hangover. It's even rare for me to get tipsy. That's not really the point of these festivals so it hadn't even dawned on me that one would get a hangover from one. I haven't seen anyone slamming wine at them, but if anyone did that...I could imagine the possibility of an American doing so.

Then they wanted to know what one does at the wine festival. Hmm. I thought that I had explained it but I repeated myself, in case I had forgotten something.

No, what do people do there? What are the events, I was asked. I realized that our understanding of the event was different. I'm accustomed to attending with friends, more like a local would. My goal is to enjoy the company of my friends and to do some relaxed wandering with a bit of wine drinking thrown in; we usually attend on Sundays since everything else is closed then. Sometimes there is entertainment but other times the entertainment is just the company one keeps. I find myself identifying with the German idea of relaxing and really experiencing the activity.

I realized that I need to step back from my experience and reconsider the event through the eyes of my family members. They are here as tourists and have very little time during their visit. It makes sense that they would like to see some more famous sights since this is their first trip to Germany. We will probably end up doing some touristy sh**; we're definitely making a trip to Heidelberg, which I know reasonably well since my good friend lives there. Maybe while they visit the castle I'll have lunch with a friend. I might even make them go for a hike on the Schlangenweg and point out the house on the river where I partied for New Year's eve once. I'll point out Gernot Rumpf's signature little mice next to his monkey sculpture on the old bridge.  That way I'll slip a little bit of the "real world" of German living into the tourist trip.